A merger approved on Friday by investors could net former President Donald Trump billions of dollars just days before he faces his deadline to pay the state of New York a $464 million bond.
The merger will see Truth Social combined with another company that will take the social media platform public as early as next week.
Trump is staring down the possibility of losing some of his assets after a New York court ruled his company defrauded banks in order to secure favorable loans.
The former president is appealing the ruling, but he must post the bond to prevent New York Attorney General Letitia James from taking control of his portfolio of properties.
As is true with most wealthy Americans, most of Trump’s assets are not liquid and so he has faced difficulty coming up with the cash to pay the bond on short notice.
A deal approved on Friday will not help him with cash immediately, but it could mean he might not have to worry about selling off any of his prized properties.
According to ABC News, Trump Media & Technology Group -- which owns Truth Social -- was officially merged with Digital World Acquisition Company following a vote by shareholders.
Shares of Truth Social can be traded on the Nasdaq as early as next week.
As the majority owner of the publicly traded company, Trump could net a minimum of $3 billion, depending on how high the share price climbs, according to forecasters.
The deal reached does have a clause that prevents the Republican presidential candidate from liquidating any of his shares.
Trump also is not permitted by the terms of the merger to take out any loans against his stake in the new company.
Still, claims that he is not a billionaire could be considered officially dispelled with the Friday deal.
No matter what the former president was worth on Thursday evening, his net worth is expected to jump by billions of dollars between Friday morning and when stock trading resumes on Monday morning.
While Friday’s merger is good news for Trump, he said Friday morning that it will not play any role in his ability to pay the bond in New York.
In an early morning post on Truth Social, the former president told his followers that he already had the cash on hand needed to protect himself from James.
“THROUGH HARD WORK, TALENT, AND LUCK, I CURRENTLY HAVE ALMOST FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS IN CASH, A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF WHICH I INTENDED TO USE IN MY CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT,” Trump said.
He then took shots at James and New York Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over his civil fraud case.
“THE OFTEN OVERTURNED POLITICAL HACK JUDGE ON THE RIGGED AND CORRUPT A.G. CASE, WHERE I HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG, KNEW THIS, WANTED TO TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME, AND THAT’S WHERE AND WHY HE CAME UP WITH THE SHOCKING NUMBER WHICH, COUPLED WITH HIS CRAZY INTEREST DEMAND, IS APPROXIMATELY $454,000,000," the former president said.
"I DID NOTHING WRONG EXCEPT WIN AN ELECTION IN 2016 THAT I WASN’T EXPECTED TO WIN, DID EVEN BETTER IN 2020, AND NOW LEAD, BY A LOT, IN 2024. THIS IS COMMUNISM IN AMERICA!” he said.
